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(TALKZIMBABWE) MDC-T disengagement is a non-event: Charamba

MDC-T disengagement is a non-event: Charamba
TSM.
Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity, and presidential spokesman George Charamba

THE decision by the MDC-T to “disengage” from the inclusive Government is a non-event as Government business will continue with the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday set to be held as usual, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity, George Charamba, has said. He said Government, which is Cabinet, will continue with or without the MDC-T.

He added: “The MDC-T has disengaged from nothing. It’s sound and fury signifying nothing. The MDC-T president knows that. It’s a poor protest.

“As you will certainly see on Tuesday, Cabinet will be held. The agenda for the meeting has been circulated and decisions that are binding will be taken. Remember, Cabinet does not function through a quorum.”

Charamba, who is also President Robert Mugabe's spokesman said the MDC-T was wasting time talking about elections because, “elections would be held following a decision by President Mugabe who is empowered by the Constitution to do so. There is no amount of monkey business that will change things on the ground.”

Asked about the President’s reaction to the MDC-T decision, he said: “We were busy with the selection of students that are set to go to Fort Hare University.

And remember, we also had Cosafa here. It was important to give our boys a resounding good luck like what the President did on Friday. As for this needless excitement from the MDC-T, I suppose the President will find time when the right time comes.”

A lecturer in political science at the University of Zimbabwe who refused to be named said: “The only thing that will stop for the duration of this futile symbolism is the Council of Ministers which Mr Tsvangirai chairs. It’s his creature and it was meant for him.

"He has decided to boycott it and who cares? Now that (MDC-T treasurer-general Roy) Bennett has been granted bail, what’s next? We hope that the MDC-T is not suggesting that Bennett should not be tried.”

The lecturer said the decision by the MDC-T shows that the party does not believe in the rule of law.

He said the decision to disengage from the inclusive Government, threats to the Attorney-General Mr Johannes Tomana and reported attempts to rig the legal process through the use of money meant that the MDC-T was entering a guilty plea on behalf of Bennett, who was scheduled to travel to Sweden with the MDC-T leader this week on a party fund-raising mission before the trip was cancelled.

The lecturer questioned: “So all the other MDC-T members who have been arraigned before the courts do not matter? The only time that the MDC-T calls for an emergency meeting and takes what appears to be a dramatic action is when Bennett has been arraigned before the courts.

“The simple message to Zanu-PF is that don’t touch our white man. Don’t touch our white men over land, over crime and over politics.

“To the ordinary Zimbabweans, the message is hey black brother, you are on your own. This creature called the MDC-T is a white men’s protector.

“That’s why the US Ambassador in Harare is over-excited, that’s why Swedish Ambassador Mr Rylander is excited and that’s why the US State Department is excited. Never has the white men’s solidarity been so shrill over so little. “So the GPA is equal to Bennett? The inclusive Government is equal to the sanctity of the white men?

“I wonder how the US President Mr Barack Obama feels as a black man. The entire diplomatic might of America that is supposed to be under a black man has been over-excited over a white Rhodesian. Is this the change we have been waiting for?”

It is understood some senior members of the party are furious that their superiors are venerating Bennett above them.

The party’s House of Assembly member for Mutare West Shuah Mudiwa told a recent MDC-T meeting chaired by the secretary-general, Tendai Biti: “Ko chii chinonyanyoshamisira pana Bennett zvekuti munobva mamhanya-mhanya? Inga isu takagara two months (in prison) wani asi hamuna kumhanyaso?”.

Meanwhile, Bennett yesterday received some reprieve after the State acceded to a request to have his trial moved from tomorrow to a later date to give his legal team more time to prepare their case.

October 27 has been provisionally set as the new date, but the defence says it still needs more time. - TSM.

Labels: GEORGE CHARAMBA, MDC, NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT

posted by MrK @ 5:51 PM